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Damon Fowler Ready For The Next Level

Blind Pig Records

Tampa musician Damon Fowler, 29, has been performing since he was 14.

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By CURTIS ROSS | The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 30, 2009

Damon Fowler's been making a name for himself well beyond the Tampa music scene that nurtured him.

With his new album, "Sugar Shack," Fowler is set to go even further.

"Sugar Shack" is Fowler's first album for Blind Pig, one of the top labels for blues-oriented artists.

It's a coup for Fowler, for both personal and professional reasons.

"I was starting to think maybe I wouldn't get a record deal," says Fowler, who has released three albums on his own.

"I was working on getting a distribution deal and then this fell in my lap," Fowler says. "It really made me happy."

Fowler has been touring nationally for almost five years now, but the Blind Pig association likely will open more doors.

"They've got distribution and publicists and a guy who works radio stations," Fowler notes. He says he'd be thrilled if it meant touring overseas.

"It's not going to make me famous," Fowler says. "They're going to help me make records. Blind Pig is positive and supportive of what I want to do, which is to go to the next level of making records."

Make no mistake, though, "Sugar Shack" is the album Fowler would be releasing, major label or not.

"I had a budget and was making a record anyway," Fowler says.

And while Fowler likely will forever be tagged a blues guitarist, "Sugar Shack" goes well beyond that narrow scope.

"I wouldn't consider what I'm doing now as a blues project," Fowler says. "It's very blues influenced. But I grew up listening to American roots music. My grandparents were into bluegrass and country. My Uncle Bobby played in a country band and showed me how to play guitar."

"Sugar Shack" features remakes of three country tunes: Merle Haggard's "Tonight the Bottle Let Me Down," The Amazing Rhythm Aces' "Third Rate Romance" and Billy Joe Shaver's "I'm Just an Old Chunk of Coal."

"When you play in bars the first thing people say is, 'I hate country music,'" Fowler says. "But wait 'til the second set and play some and they're up dancing. Just don't tell 'em it's country!

"It's a fine line between blues and country," Fowler says. "Originally country was played by poor white folks and the blues by poor black folks. They're so similar."

Fowler, 29, first began playing live locally at 14.

"We watched him grow up. He's our little baby blues brother," Tom White, co-owner of Skipper's Smokehouse, told the Tribune in 2006.

Listener-supported radio station WMNF, 88.5 FM, is sponsoring tonight's CD release party, which will see Fowler return to Skipper's stage.

Fowler also will perform at The Ringside Cafe in St. Petersburg on Feb. 6 and 7, and in Lakeland at the Polk Theater on Feb. 21.

CD RELEASE PARTY

Damon Fowler

WHEN: 8 tonight

WHERE: Skipper's Smokehouse, 910 Skipper Road, Tampa; (813) 971-0666

COST: $15

Reporter Curtis Ross can be reached at (813) 259-7568.

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